All those evil banks and their mortgages to questionable borrowers (with all their pesky questions and “fine writing”), while certainly not in it for the altruism any more than Apple is, certainly were selling products intended to make their customers’ lives better — as I believe was the intention of the lawmakers who encouraged such loans before the 2008 meltdown. Or has the American dream of owning a home already been forgotten?

This really is pretty comical, as the article goes on praising Apple and Ben & Jerry’s, and demonizing the money-lenders that make it possible for every tiny startup business – including these two angels, at one time in their sainted existence – to start up in the first place.

]]>By: EQReynoldshttp://blogs.reuters.com/katharine-herrup/2011/10/19/are-corporations-really-occupying-occupywallstreet/comment-page-2/#comment-1724
Mon, 31 Oct 2011 08:23:12 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/katharine-herrup/?p=180#comment-1724Well said, netizen_james! In the fairy-tale world of sound-bites, corporate “expectations”, and the media that supports them, there is no room for nuance, subtlety, or the notion of the “greater good.”

So are the product Walmart carries and Pfizer or a hundred other companies make. I guess you answered your own question. The Occupy protesters’ convictions ARE SHALLOW…they want more of the same as long as there’s REALLY GOOD product design.

Is it a wonder there is no more left wing in this country? The hue we’re seeing here is Republican-Lite, JUST LIKE OBAMA!

It’s about GREED. It’s about the cynic’s ‘golden rule’ (‘them what’s got the gold make the rules’)

It’s about the change in the ratio of ceo-pay:average-worker-pay from 40 to 400.

It’s about the wealthy using their tax cuts and stimulus money to create jobs – in China and Singapore.

And above all this, it’s about the COLLUSION we sense between the wealthy elite and government, to protect and increase this disparity of wealth.

We’re pissed about exactly the same things the TEA party started being pissed off about – corporate welfare. They see the ‘problem’ as government itself. We see the ‘problem’ as corporate MONEY having far too great an impact on government policies.

We don’t see the rationale of giving huge tax breaks and subsidies to benefit already-wealthy folk, while there are folks working two and three jobs, and still not rising above the poverty level.

We don’t see how ‘free trade’ can possibly benefit American workers, when they then have to compete with third world sweatshops that don’t have ANY work-safety, environmental, or labor-negotiation regulations. The answer is NOT ‘free trade’ and a ‘race to the bottom’. I don’t WANT America to be just another third-world hell-hole with rampant pollution, and no right for laborers to peaceably assemble and collectively bargain for reasonable wages and safe working conditions.

THAT’s why these sorts of articles are all wet.

It’s not about ‘corporations’ per se. Again, we’re not anti-business. We’re anti-GREED. No, sorry Mr. Gekko, greed is NOT good. It’s about the current bastardization of what a ‘corporation’ is supposed to be. Originally, ‘corporations’ were created and destroyed solely at the whim of legislatures. Corporations were limited in the time of their duration and scope of their activities. They were NOT allowed to have any political influence whatsoever. They were always intended to perform some public-good (like build a road, or a harbor). A corporation which was found to be acting in any way contrary to the public interest simply had it’s charter canceled – the corporate death penalty.

]]>By: Nullcorphttp://blogs.reuters.com/katharine-herrup/2011/10/19/are-corporations-really-occupying-occupywallstreet/comment-page-1/#comment-1287
Sat, 22 Oct 2011 01:12:08 +0000http://blogs.reuters.com/katharine-herrup/?p=180#comment-1287Two companies don’t make a trend. Nor do they make an article with substance. Especially when only one of the two companies mentioned has issued a statement of support.

Apple wants to bring its money back from overseas without paying taxes. I am an AAPL investor and use Apple stuff all the time, but in that respect they are just as bad as the other tax evaders, and therefore the criticism of protesters using Apple products has some merit.

However, the criticism doesn’t stand when you consider the argument from this angle: how does anyone live without a computer (or even a cellphone)? It’s not a band of Luddites protesting, they’re networked and using tech to get the word out. And if they’re smart they’ll choose the computer that works versus the competition. I don’t think that Lenovo, Dell, HP, or other also-rans are necessarily better corporate citizens than Apple. So, what do you do. Carrier pigeon? Morse code? Semaphore? No, you get an iPhone. And you remember that Apple’s “Made in China” products end up generating a lot of good design, development, engineering, marketing, and management jobs in America.